BEACH HUT 44

There was lots going on at hut 44 tonight with a distinctive Sussex theme to everything.

The carol was The Sussex Carol which is all about the good news that the angels brought of the birth of Jesus as redeemer and king.

Mandy was the artist who created this hut and she took the news theme to heart with a backdrop in the style of a red top newspaper entitled 'The Son'.  The main story of the day was the text of the Sussex carol.

On each of the doors of the hut was a crafty (in the sense of being a craft activity) interactive news feed made from small sheets of material on which people had written their good news stories from this past year.

Outside the hut was a news desk with blank sheets of cloth and people attending the hut were asked to write a few words about a good news story from their year and this was added to the news feed on the doors.

The hut was also visited by Cuckoo's Nest - the Brighton womens Morris dancing troupe who performed half a dozen dances as the wind whisked along Hove seafront, carrying the music from their accordion player down towards the two piers.

The next hut is back towards the lagoon and is number 332.

BEACH HUT 264

Tonight, hut 264 felt very much part of its environment as it was decorated with fishing nets and fish, perfectly appropriate for the stormy seashore.

The carol was a very obscure one entitled 'A Ship is coming Laden', which is a German Advent song, possibly one of the earliest known religious songs in that language as it was written in 1450.   It is a close cousin to I Saw Three Ships which was the theme of the hut last night and is an allegory of the Virgin Mary carrying the unborn child to its safe haven in Bethlehem.

Jesus grew up within a fishing community beside the waters of Lake Galilee and counted many fishermen amongst his friend and disciples and there is a long tradition of using seafaring stories as a metaphor for aspects of his life.

The main part of the decoration was a fishing net festooned with a variety of fish which completely filled the hut.  Scattered throughout the net was the number 153 which intrigued many of the visitors tonight.

153 was the number of fish that almost broke the net of the disciples when instructed by the resurrected Jesus to throw their nets on the other side of their boat.  It's also believed that in Jesus time the number of species of fish
known was 153.




So when telling this story, the writers wanted us to understand that this catch, directed by the risen Jesus, represented all the fish in the world, as Jesus comes to save all.

Our next hut is very much to the East of tonights as it is number 44 beside Hove Lawns.

BEACH HUT 196

Different types of ships came together in Hut 196 tonight, courtesy of hut owner Anna and paper artist Beth.

Three sailing ships were the centrepiece of the installation, beautifully crafted from single sheets of card with their sales billowing in the wind.

Beneath these, roaming across the golden sands were three ships of the desert, otherwise known as camels, the traditional transport of the wise men who followed the star to give the infant Jesus their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  

It was a pretty cold night but the chill was taken off by a fire burning in a brazier outside the hut.

Alongside all of this a choir sang four part harmony songs at various points throughout the evening.

The next hut is being created by the Church of the Good Shepherd on Dyke Road and is number 264.

BEACH HUT 253

Hut 253 was transformed into a mini-pub tonight called The Holly and The Ivy, an interesting mix of the old English carol and the tradition of the Innkeeper who had no room for the Holy family.

Above the hut was a pub sign, especially painted for this occasion, and there were all sorts of interesting and amusing little touches in the overall decor and design to interest the large crowd who came out on this beautiful, clear, moonlit night.

Just inside the door was the pub menu of Peace Pudding, Shepherd's Pie and Angel Delight, a menu Jesus' parents would have enjoyed more than he would as a newborn baby.

In the corner of the hut was a very realistic looking fireplace with tissue paper flames and red Christmas lights as the glowing embers.  The reason it looked for realistic is because it was a genuine cast iron fireplace, found by the hut owner on the street and appropriated by her for this installation.













On the back shelf of the pub was a row of wine bottles with labels saying 'Love', 'Joy' and 'Peace', bringing Christmas greetings to all the pub clients through a message of seasonal good cheer.

Outside the hut were tables and chairs for people to sit out and eat their mince pies or have a drink, although most preferred to stand and talk to their friends.

The next hut is number 196 which is just East of The View.

BEACH HUT 116

The bells were ringing at hut 116 tonight as we listened to Ding, Dong, Merrily on High.

Jim and Janice put a lot of work into the decoration of their hut including a custom made light up bell which hung above the hut on a specially fabricated rig.  The great advantage of this was that the bell was visible from all around, including behind the hut, making it easy for people approaching from the Kingsway to find us.

Inside the hut were more bells, including some handbells that the children really enjoyed playing with and in the centre of everything was a perpetually snowing Christmas tree!

It was a beautifully clear, cold, still night which gave us a wonderful opportunity to watch the full moon rise over Brighton and join the street lights and Christmas lights of Brighton and Hove.

For once the moon appeared so large that you can even see it in the photograph below.


The next hut is back on the Westward side of the King Alfred leisure centre at hut number 253

BEACH HUT 376

The carol chosen for tonight was Silent Night but the proceedings were far from silent as there were so many children running around hut number 376.

Deepdene school on New Church road in Hove decorated the hut with work by the children showing a variety of Christmas scenes and characters.

The school also brought their choir who sang a medley of carols and other Christmas songs for fifteen minutes immediately after the event began.

A good  number of family and friends crowded round the choir as they sang and almost swamped them as they tried to get close enough to hear.


The school also brought their choir who sang a medley of carols and other Christmas songs for fifteen minutes immediately after the event began.

All the artwork was beautifully lit by a variety of candles and Christmas lights.



This was the first completely clear night we've had on the seafront as there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were treated to the sight of the light of an almost full moon hanging above the huts.

The next hut is number 116 beside Hove Lawns, much further to the East than we were tonight.

BEACH HUT 247a

The focus tonight was not exclusively on hut 247a as David and Charlotte had decided to treat us all to a variety of performances.

The hut itself was very simply decorated with a flame motif - candles in jars, paper cutout flames on the walls, candles on the floor and twinkly stars surrounding an old mirror.

The focus on light was to remind ourselves that Advent is a season of light in the darkness and that this theme is also true of a lot of religions who have light festivals around this time of year.

It was also to highlight the skills of David and Charlotte who are both circus performers with particular skills in juggling and performing with fire.







The natural light of flames was in direct contrast with the LED light incorporated into some of the other equipment that the two performers demonstrated.  These included LED lit hula hoops and poys.






Taking photographs produced some really lovely images which brought out the divine in the performers and made them look like angels.












Our next hut is number 376 which is very close to Hove Lagoon and the evening is being masterminded by Deepdene school using 'Silent Night' as their theme carol.

Trying

BEACH HUT 11

The whole Beach Hut Advent Calendar event aims to bring joy to the good folk of Brighton and Hove but Helen was bringing Joy to the World tonight in hut 11.


The most Easterly of the huts this year somehow contained the whole world, beautifully photographed from space in all it's blue and green splendour.






The world was encircled with chains of happy paper people all holding hands in perfect harmony.

This carol talks abut the whole of creation being made whole by the birth of the Saviour.  Christmas is an earth shattering event because it changes the world, not because it turns into chaos at black Friday sales and rip off Santa experiences.

Joy is about much more than happiness and goes beyond the tinsel and glitter of commercial Christmas.



Each of the paper people surrounding the globe had a broad smile on their face and were so in love with those around them that their hearts were on show.

This is the kind of joy we seek to promote through this event but is not very often associated with church or religion which is odd, because that's what faith should be about. 

We were visited by Latest TV tonight who will put together a report for their news show tomorrow at 6pm.

Latest TV is the Brighton TV station which launched on Freeview earlier this year.  You can find them on channel 8 on Freeview or 159 on Virgin Media or you can watch online here.

The next hut is number 247a and will feature fire jugglers and circus performers!

BEACH HUT 227

The photographs on this blog can't do justice to the beauty of hut 227 this evening.  This is mainly because it is difficult to photograph an installation which is made almost exclusively of light, especially when that light is subtly moving and re-forming in endless random patterns and designs.








The installation was created by Lucy Lauener who is a member of the congregation at St. Luke's Prestonville, close to Seven Dials.


This is a variation of a piece that she has created for the church entitled 'Advent Light' which was premiered on Advent Sunday and will be on show in the church through to the end of the Christmas season.

The inspiration for the art came from the carol 'Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning' with it's description of the light dawning on the darkness and the star guiding the Magi to Bethlehem.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning;
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

The second verse introduces us to Jesus in the manger and a vision of the stable:

Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!

The artwork consists of a giant mirrored cylinder which is backed with opaque polythene which forms a translucent screen for all manner of projections and light effects.  In the hut tonight the light was provided by an invention of the artist Chris Levene - the Laserpod.




At the base of the circle shape created by the mirrors, was a tiny glass nativity scene, so small that it was hardly noticeable unless you got really close to the hut.  The whole effect was very moving as the sky was filled with the glorious light, beaming down on the tiny frail representation of God become man.










The next hut is number 11, right down by Hove Lawns and the most Easterly of all the huts in the calendar this year.